Celtic History

General Celtic Info

The Celts dominated Mid and Western Europe for a thousand years. But it is
only recently that the importance of Celtic influence on the cultural,
linguistic and artistic development of Europe. The Celts as an identifiable race
or ethnic group have long since disappeared, except in places such as Ireland
and the Scottish Highlands.

The Celts transmitted their culture orally, never writing down history or
facts. This accounts for the extreme lack of knowledge about them prior to their
contact with the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome. They were generally
well educated, particularly on topics such as religion, philosophy, geography
and astronomy. The Romans often employed Celtic tutors for their sons.

The bravery of the Celts in battle is legendary. They often spurned body
armor, going naked into battle. Celtic society was typically more equal in
terms of gender roles. Women were on more or less equal footing as men, being
accomplished warriors, merchants and rulers.

The first human settlers in Europe were paleolithic hunter/gatherer tribes.
At the end of the last ice age (some 10000 years ago) they began adopting an
agrarian lifestyle. This occurred over 2500 years during the mesolithic era.
These agricultural societies began making clay pots around the year 5000 BC, the
beginning of the neolithic period. The neolithic lasts until about 2500 BC.
During this time we have no knowledge of the race or language of these early
Europeans. It is not known if they spoke an indoeuropean language or still the
pre-indoeuropean tongues. Little is known of the bronze age (2500 - 800 BC)
either, the race character of the people is unknown, but since the first Greek
migration occured in 1800 BC at least some of the people now spoke an
indoeuropean language. It is not known if this was motivated by indoeuropean
migrations out of Russia, or if Europe as a whole under went cultural evolution
at the same time to become indoeuropean. Whatever the make up of the bronze age
population, they formed the basis of the early iron age cultures. The first of
these was the Hallstatt Culture.

This was the first of the iron age cultures. The western regions of this
culture, between France and west Germany, already spoke a Celtic language.
Around the year 600 BC the Greek geographer Herodotus writes of the Celts
dwelling beyond "the pillars of Hercules" (ie Spain) and the Upper
Danube. The name "Celt" probably came from the dominant tribe of the
Halstatt, and became a unifying concept for the whole culture. "Celt"
is what the people called themselves, they referred to themselves when talking
to the Greeks as the "Keltoi".

The original Celtic homeland was an area of Austria, near southern Germany.
From here they expanded over much of continental Europe and Britain. The map
below shows the extent of the Celtic settlements.

At their peak, the Celts ranged from Ireland and Spain to Turkey. A brief
rundown on some of the regions is given now:

England, Scotland and Ireland

The name Britain derives from Celtic. The Greek author Pytheas called
them the "Pretanic Isles" which derived from the inhabitants name
for themselves, Pritani. This was mistranslated into Latin as "Brittania"
or "Brittani". The Celts migrated to Ireland from Europe,
conquering the original inhabitants. In clashes with the Romans around the
River Clyde a tribe called the "Scotti" came to prominence. Later
the Scotti moved from Northern Island to establish the Kingdom of Dalriada
in Argyll, on the West coast of Scotland. From here the Scots expanded and
supplanted the Picts, an Celtic people who arrived in Scotland earlier.
Ireland was never invaded by the Romans and retains what is probably the
language closest to the original Celtic, Irish Gaelic.

France

Modern France is a composite of many earlier peoples. The Celts settled
there and the largest tribe, called the "Galli" by the Romans,
gave their name to the region and people, the Gauls. The Gauls were heavily
involved in the invasions of Northern Italy. When the Roman Empire expanded
many of the Gaullish tribes fled, but some stayed and became Romanized,
losing the Celtic language. Later a Germanic tribe, the Franks, invaded the
area and settled. The Franks gave their name to the region but adopted the
language and customs of the people. Thus France is a Celtic people, speaking
a Romance language in a country with a Germanic name.

Belgium

Belgium is similar in situation to France. The dominant tribe, the Belgae,
gave their name to the region. They were later conquered by the Romans.

Galatia

The Galatians of the New Testament of the Bible were a Celtic tribe that
migrated through the Balkans. They pillaged as they moved and attacked, but
were defeated by, the Greeks and eventually moved into Turkey, founding
Galatia. They were destroyed and assimilated by the Turks early in the first
millenium AD.

The Celts were at their height during the 4th and 5th centuries BC. During
this time they waged three great wars, which had great influence on the history
of southern Europe.

About 500 BC the Celts conquered Spain, wresting it from Carthage.

Around 400 BC they took Northern Italy from the Etruscans. Here they settled
in great numbers.

At the end of the 4th century the overran Pannonia, conquering the Illyrians.

All these wars were fought in alliance with the Greeks. At this time the
Celts and Greeks were on very friendly terms. The defeat of Carthage broke the
monopoly on British tin and Spanish silver and freed the overland trade routes
to Britain. At this time the Greeks and Celts were allied against the
Phoenicians and Persians. Celtic hostility to Carthage helped save Greece from
destruction from the East, no Celts enlisted in Carthage's mercenary army.
Alexander the Great made alliance with the Celts in 334 BC, when he was about to
embark on his conquest of Asia. The Celts kept the Greek dominions safe from
attack during his absence.

Around the year 400 BC the Celts were ruled by a king named Livy Ambicatus.
At this time, the height of their power, they were unified as a military
confederacy of tribes. They were attracted by the rich land of Northern Italy
and invaded, battling and defeating the Etruscans. At this time the Romans were
pushing at the Etruscans from the South, and the Celts and Romans acted in
alliance. But the Romans despised the Northern barbarians, and at the seige of
Clusium (391 BC) (which the Romans regarded as a bulwark of Rome against the
barbaric North) the Romans betrayed the Celts. The Celts recognized former Roman
envoys fighting with the enemy. The Celts applied to Rome for the family of
Fabius Ambustus (whose sons were the envoys), the chief pontiff of Rome, in
reparation. Rome refused and elected the Fabii as miltary tribunes the next
year. Abandoning the seige of Clusium, the Celts marched on Rome. They passed
cities and fortresses without stopping, there was no plundering. Their cry to
guards on provinicial town walls was "We are bound for Rome". They
reached Rome and defeated the mustered city forces in a single charge. Three
days later they were in Rome, and stayed for a year. They extracted a great fine
from Rome in reparation for the treachery at Clusium and left with a peace
treaty. For nearly a century there was peace between Rome and the Celts. It was
broken only when various Celtic tribes allied with the Etruscans in the third
Samnite war, this was near the time of the breakup of the old Celtic Empire.

The Greek traveler Pytheas mentions the Germans about 300 BC, but they do
not enter history until the Teutons descend on Italy to be defeated by Marius at
the end of the second century. The ancient Greeks before Pytheas assigned all
lands now known as Germanic to the Celts. It is probable that at this time the
Germans were a subject people of the Celts and had no separate political
existence. The German language borrowed many words from Celtic. But two things
the Germans would not take from the Celts were language and religion. This
race-pride gave rise to the German uprising and fall of the Celtic Empire
hundreds of years later. The German and Celtic deities have different names, and
the burial rites were markedly different. The Germans burned their illustrious
dead on pyres, the Celts (who buried their dead) regarded such as a humiliation
to be used on criminals or slaves.

Religion was a pre-eminent force in the Celtic culture. There's was a
religion codified in dogma and administered by a priestly caste, the Druids.
Druids were a major power within the Celtic empire, with all public and private
affairs subject to their authority. The Celts were extremely superstitious, and
regarded it as the worst punishment to be excommunicated. Caesar wrote an
account of the Druids:

They who are thus interdicted are reckoned in the number of the vile and
wicked; all persons avoid and fly their company and discourse, lest they should
receive any infection by contagion; they are not permitted to commence a suit;
neither is any post entrusted to them... The Druids are generally freed from
military service, nor do they pay taxes with the rest... Encouraged by such
rewards, many of their own accord come to their schools, and are sent by their
friends and relations. They are said to get by heart a great number of verses;
some continue twenty years in their education; neither is it held lawful to
commit these things [Druidic doctrines] to writing, though in almost all public
transactions and private accounts they use the Greek characters.

The immense power of the Druids was the weakness of the Celtic polity. No
nation that is ruled by priests drawing their authority from supernatural
sanctions is capable of true progress. The Celts fanatic adherence to their
religion inevitably helped bring down their empire.

It is likely that Druids were originally the priests of the megalithic
pre-Celtic peoples of Western Europe. During the Celtic expansion the Druids
were adopted by the highly religious Celts and the numerous Celtic deities and
beliefs were adopted by the Druids.

By the year 300 BC the Celts had lost their political cohesion and the
Empire began breaking apart. Tribes began wandering in search of new lands. Some
went to Greece, where they outraged their former allies at the sack of Delphi
(273 BC). Others renewed the war with Rome, in alliance with the Etruscans, and
were defeated at Sentinum (295 BC) and Lake Vadimo (283 BC). One group went into
Asia Minor, and founded Galatia where a Celtic dialect was still spoken until
400 BC. These were eventually assimilated into Turkey. Others enlisted as
mercenaries with Carthage. Wars between Celts and Germans or Celts who had
settled earlier were fought all over Mid-Europe, Gaul and Britain. By the end of
this the only Celtic strongholds were Britain and Gaul. The beginning of the
Christian era saw Britain under Roman rule

Most people of European descent today can count on some Celtic ancestry. A
typical impression of a Celt today is the short, dark haired Irishman. But by
all ancient accounts the Celts were tall and fair of skin and hair.
"True" Celts today do not really exist, the closest examples are the
Highlanders of Perthshire and Northwest Scotland the families of the old ruling
race in Ireland and Wales. Over the centuries the racial characteristics of the
pre-Celt inhabitants of Europe has surfaced, the Celts typically settled in
areas as a ruling class and held themselves apart from those there before them.
The Celts, forming a strong warrior class, typically were at the forefront of
battles and perished more numerously than the "subject" people. They
never set themselves up to leave a lasting legacy in the racial traits of modern
people. The main contribution of the Celts has been largely a cultural one,
influencing the development of most of Europe and leaving the Celtic heritage of
Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

Celtic art developed separately from other "classical" cultures,
such as Rome and Greece. The importation of objects from the Mediterranean gave
the Celts contact with their art but the Celtic style was unaffected. Constant
contact with eastern and northern neighbors of similar societal structure
induced and "Orientalising" of Celtic art, eg the use of the Scythian/Thraco-Cimmerian
animal style. Elements of Etruscan art were also absorbed, but where ever the
Celts took styles from they immediately altered them in such a way as to make
them purely Celtic. There was no period in which the foreign style was used and
developed, the style was Celticized immediately. The pottery of the Celts is
never decorated with figurative scenes (as in Greece for example) but always
with textural designs and multi-colors. Their metalwork is highly sculptural,
rejecting the Greek methods of integrating of form and surface. The Celts never
looked to the classical societies as the center of art work, considering their
own developed style and tradition to be equal.